Chapter Eleven

Greg wasn't happy when I told him that his mother was coming to see him. He had no desire whatsoever to see her obviously.

We decided we were going to be engaged just between the two of us. Neither of us needed the grief from our parents that we knew we would get if they knew we wanted to be married. We both wanted to finish school anyway. We had already missed a few days and I was anxious to get back and see my friends, especially Carly.

The thought of going back to Duncan wasn't exactly a comforting one. We had run away from out problems and we realized now that we hadn't been right to do that. We hadn't accomplished much of anything except almost getting Greg killed.

Despite the regret we both felt for leaving at such a time in our lives, we were happy we had met Fred. He was a very nice man. He was so lonely. He had made mistakes in the past but so had everyone else. He didn't deserve to live all alone with no family on Christmas and only a letter from my mother a couple times a year.

He would have Ryan now, even if Ryan wasn't the most honorable guy I'd ever met, it would still be good for Fred to have someone around to talk to.

I had calmed down quite a bit since exploding at Ryan and I actually regretted being so hard on him. He hadn't purposely made Greg see us kiss. When I thought about it now, I realized that he hadn't even known that Greg and I were together. We hadn't been when Ryan and I first met. Maybe one day Ryan and I could be friends again.

"Greg?" a voice said from the hospital room doorway. I turned to the door to find Erin standing there with, to my surprise, Trevor.

"Mom," Greg said. He didn't sound happy to see her at all but she didn't seem to notice.

"Honey! Are you alright?" she cried, she ran over to the bed and almost tackled me to get to him, "My poor baby," she sobbed. I was surprised that she was actually crying. She never really seemed to care about anyone but herself.

"Mom, please," Greg said, rolling his eyes.

I turned to Trevor and he smiled tightly, "Can I talk to you?" he asked.

I nodded and left Greg alone with his mother. We walked over to the green chairs and sat down. I didn't know what he was going to say to me.

"Hope, I'm so sorry about everything," he said. He had tears in his eyes.

I didn't say anything. I wanted to hear everything he had to say first.

"I overreacted the night of the party, I never should have exploded that way. I love you like you were my own daughter and you have been since you were very small," he said, his voice cracking.

I reached out and took his hand, "I love you too," I said, "You are the only Dad I've ever known and I still want to be your daughter," I told him. Tears crept up under my lids now.

"You don't know how much that means to me," Trevor said. A tear ran down his cheek and he wiped it away quickly.

"But," I added, "I want to know everything about my real father and what happened before," I said. I wasn't going to let my parents lie to me or keep the truth from me anymore. I was old enough to understand everything that went on, the good and the bad.

"Okay, when we get home, your mother and I will tell you everything," he said.

I smiled and let out a breath. I was finally going to know the full truth. No more lies and no more confusion.

"How's Colin doing?" I asked.

"He misses you," Dad said, smiling, "He asks every day when you are going to be home,"

"I can't wait to see him again," I said.

"There is one thing that you need to know before we go home," Dad said.

"What is it?" I asked, concerned. What could it possibly be now?

"Tyler has become even more withdrawn," Dad said, "When you left he blamed it on himself and he never even leaves his room,"

"Oh no," I muttered. I couldn't believe that Tyler could become more withdrawn. He was already so quiet and gloomy.

"He knows his trial is coming up and he is afraid, I think seeing you again will help him a great deal," Dad told me.

"I want to see him soon, I hate to see him sad," I said. I had never been that close with Tyler but he was always nice to Greg and I. We tried to spend time with him. Greg was with him more than I was because he was always asking for skateboarding advice.

"I'll go talk to the doctor about Greg," Dad said. He stood up.

"Dad?" I asked standing up.

"Yes?" he asked turning back to me.

"Thanks for coming," I hugged the only father I could ever remember having tightly. He hugged me back and smiled.

I glanced back into Greg's room. Erin was sitting beside him in a chair holding his hand. It didn't look like she was talking. Just holding his hand. Just being there for him. That was what Greg needed right now, someone to be there for him. Maybe Erin was finally realizing that.

Dad came back a couple minutes later, "The doctor said Greg can go home tomorrow, he just has to spend some time in bed so his ribs can heal," he said.

Dad and I told Greg and Erin that we were going to get a hotel room with enough space for Erin. But she said that she was going to stay at the hospital all night. Greg rolled his eyes at me but smiled anyway.

We found a hotel room and went to sleep until almost eleven o'clock the next morning. I was jerked awake to the ringing of Dad's cell phone. He groaned and reached over to answer it.

"Hello?" he asked, "What?" he sat upright in back, now wide-awake.

I sat up and stared over at him. What was going on?

"Okay honey, don't worry, we'll be home later today," he said and hung up the phone.

"What is it?" I asked anxiously.

He looked over at me sadly, "Tyler has killed himself," he said.

The whole ride home was agonizingly slow. I wanted to be with my mother. She must be so devastated right now. I knew how protective she had always been of Tyler. She always felt like she needed to protect him because of what she did when he was only a child.

I still couldn't believe that Tyler would kill himself. He was never happy but I didn't think he would want to do anything that would hurt my mother. He loved her too much to see her hurt.

Dad told me that he had been found in the lake; face down. There was a suicide note in his pocket. I cried softly as we pulled into our driveway. My homecoming was not going to be a good one. Mom came running out of the house and she threw herself into Dad's arms sobbing uncontrollably.

"Okay, Skye, it's okay, I'm here now," Dad soothed her, "Hope is home now, we are all going to be okay," he said.

"Not Tyler," she wailed, "He'll never be okay again,"

She spotted me and wiped the tears from her face, "Hope, I'm so glad you are home," she said. She held out her arms and I hugged her tightly. I could almost feel her heart breaking from losing Tyler. She had so much loss in her life.

"Maybe it is for the best," she said quietly.

"How?" I asked shocked.

"Come inside," she said.

We sat in the living room and she showed me the wrinkled suicide note along with a photograph. In the picture was Tyler when he was very young, even younger than me. He was with a girl about his age with curly blond hair. She was holding a baby that looked like me and Tyler was smiling down at us. He looked so happy. I read the note next. Everyone: I'm sorry for what I am doing. I just don't want to live any more without the people I love. Keely left me many years ago. I wasn't good for her after Derek died. With him around I felt like I could really stop worrying but he wasn't around anymore and the constant worrying returned. I don't want to burden you anymore Skye. Tell Hope I love her and if you see Keely again one day tell her I died a happy man. Tyler.

"Who's Keely?" I asked when I was finished.

"A girlfriend he had a long time ago," Mom said sadly, "He really loved her, he thought he would be with her forever," she said.

"Did my father's death affect Tyler that much?" I asked.

"Oh yes, he loved Derek, after he died, he was never happy anymore, he didn't even want to skateboard anymore," Mom said, "After a while Keely broke up with him, she moved out of town a little while after and he hasn't heard from her since,"

"How sad," I said. But then again Tyler's whole life had been tragic. I hoped he was happy now.

I went up to my room and looked out the window. I could almost see my little cave through all the trees. I prayed then that Tyler would be okay wherever he was. I prayed that he would never have to go through what he did in this lifetime again.

"I love you too Tyler," I whispered into the breeze, "I love you too,"